Dr. Karla Bard, Director of Medical Operations at the AAHA-accredited Humane Society of Tampa Bay, led a presentation of landmark research findings at the annual meeting of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners (ABVP) on Saturday, October 7th in Atlanta, Georgia.

What she said wasn’t what the audience expected to hear.

The findings addressed concerns that a nationwide rise in high volume spay-neuter facilities has been accompanied by a lower quality of care, leading to an increase in post-surgical mortality rates. But according to results from the milestone six-year study, high-volume spay-neuter surgery is associated with lower mortality rates, approaching that achieved in human surgery.

“High volume spay-neuter clinics have been established to save lives by reducing the number of animals admitted to and euthanized in animal shelters,” said Dr. Bard. “The results of our study confirm the absolute safety of these clinics and offer further evidence to support aggressive spay-neuter initiatives.”

The study and subsequently published research was conducted in partnership with Dr. Julie K. Levy, Maddie’s® Professor of Shelter Medicine at the University of Florida Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program, and supported by a Maddie’s Fund® grant.

For more 100 years, the Humane Society of Tampa Bay has dedicated itself to ending animal homelessness and providing care and comfort for companion animals in need. One of only a handful of AAHA-accredited animal shelters in the United States, the Humane Society of Tampa Bay has a full-service veterinary hospital on site that offers low cost spay/neuter services to the public seven days a week.